Art critic and writer of contemporary visual art

Troubadour introduction I have been drawn to various ‘figures’ from narrative sources as a means of contextualising artistic practices in a slightly ‘colourful’ way. I have consistently drawn on the implications of the coyote trickster figure, albeit reconfigured as the Hermetic. According to Michel Serres, the troubadour is also a figure that, like trickster (or […]

Opossum introduction I have tried to gather trickster stories from most of the geographies with which I have had close relations. One of these is Mexico. Here opossum –or tlacuache – in folk tales is a trickster figure, but what interests me is that tlacuache is a rare female trickster. The speculation for this ‘deviation’ […]

Coyote introduction I was introduced to coyote during the 1980s through triple exposure to the work of the artists Harry Fonseca and Jimmie Durham and the writer Gerald Vizenor. Through their work it was clear that trickster was not to be approached from an anthropological or ethnographic perspective but from that of language: trickster was […]

Spatial dynamics. Look, you are pushing me out of the bed!! There the Old Carer goes again, making a fuss, and here am I, happily stretched out on the duvet, all nearly a meter of me, dreaming of – well, I’m not telling. On reflection she may have a point. I don’t quite know how […]

Suck Up and Get Ahead. Scandal upon scandal!! It’s now finally been exposed: the idea of trickle-down wealth is a big con against the people; wealth gets sucked up and siphoned off into the off-shore accounts of the super-rich, and not a dollar of it finds its way into the public finances, e.g. the taxes […]

Abandoned Property. The old Carer was looking glum. She got her brother to help trim back the bay tree by the wall, only to discover that the pair of blackbird persons had been trying to build a nest in it. After they discovered me and my newfound tabby-and-white friend on the wall taking a close […]

This government’s run by a bunch of hucksters, hustlers and hypocrites!! I peer up from my snug spot in the duvet wondering what on earth has brought on this latest outburst of alliteration from the old Carer, who seems to have finally degenerated into confusing Americanisms with Proper English. There are standards to uphold, you […]

Gnits and Gnats. The other day I saw the old Carer fetch the collar down from the shelf: the very same collar that was once used to try to prevent me scratching my head. So I immediately bolted out of the room. How on earth did he remember the collar, she said, it was well […]

OMG! The allergies have flared up again. I have been scratching again at my itchy head and eyes and hence I am dragged kicking and mewling back to the dreaded vet. Don’t laugh; this is not funny! Imagine the indignity of having some nasty object unceremoniously shoved up your rear end and needles plunged into […]